Ups Contractor Opens Job Line

Interviews Begin Next Month

NEWPORT NEWS — Within an hour of announcing it would run United Parcel Service's planned computerized tracking center, APAC TeleServices Inc. got its first job inquiry.

The call - APAC is asking job seekers to phone a toll-free number for information about positions - was one of 79 received by midday Friday and the first of the roughly 4,800 that company executives say they expect.

That's six calls for every one of the 800 jobs at the center, said Donald Berryman, APAC vice president and general manager.

APAC's announcement came just days after UPS announced plans to set up a contractor to run a $14.3 million computerized tracking center in the building once used by Kmart in the Warwick Village shopping center. The facility will employ about 300 people at first and reach full staff within 12 months.

In announcing the project last week, city officials said they expected the company would hire all 800 by the time it opened. However, APAC said that it would take them longer to train the workers than expected and that they would have to work up to the full amount.

"That only became clear once UPS selected" APAC, said Paul Miller, the city's director of planning and development who helped negotiate the deal.

APAC also pushed back its opening date from June 26 until July 10 to accommodate the training needs, Berryman said.

The bulk of the jobs will pay $7.50 an hour, Berryman said.

When city officials announced the project, they estimated workers would make between $8.25 and $11.25 an hour. Newport News' Industrial Development Authority backed the project to the tune of more than $8.3 million.

However, Miller said the changes in the plans, such as the lower pay don't concern him. "It's substantially above what the factory jobs around here are paying," Miller said, adding many local manufacturers pay $5 to $6.50 an hour to start.

APAC plans to begin interviewing potential workers late next month and start training some people as early as May 15, Berryman said. The hiring office will be in the building formerly used as a Hess's department store in nearby Warwick Center.

"We'd love to hire all of our people from the Newport News area," he said.

However, he said the company would not respond to the more than 130 people who by Wednesday had tacked scraps of paper with their names, telephone numbers and addresses to the glass door of APAC's new home.

"We certainly had no idea it would have as great a response as it did," Berryman said. "But the problem is we have to follow the employment process, and so there is no way that we can give any advance or preferential treatment to those people. We ask those people to call the inquiry line and go through the same process as everyone else."

The company plans to hire and train roughly 300 people by the end of the year, Berryman said. "Obviously we can only train a certain number of people at a time."

The facility will grow as UPS needs more customer service representatives to answer questions and track packages, he said.

"The facility will take care of the excess call capacity from UPS," Berryman said.

While APAC will provide training, workers must be familiar with computers, able to type 30 words a minute and have good telephone communication skills, Berryman said.

APAC was founded in 1973 and currently runs 25 centers with more than 4,000 employees around the country. Much of its work is contract work either selling products over the telephone or answering customer calls for other companies.

APAC TELESERVICES INC.

CORPORATE PROFILE

* Headquarters: Cedar Rapids, Iowa.

* Founded: 1973.

* Operations: 25 centers across the country.

* Employees: 4,000

NEWPORT NEWS FACILITY

* Employment: Roughly 60 managers and supervisors; 740 customer service representatives. Seventy percent full time, the rest part time.

* Skills: Must be able to type 30 words per minute, be computer literate and have good phone etiquette.

* Training: Company will provide three to eight weeks of training starting May 15.

* Pay: Upward to $25,000 a year for supervisors and managers; $7.50 an hour for customer service representatives.